East Yorkshire MS 1926-1986

East Yorkshire Motor Services - 60 Years of Service 1926-1986 CONTENTS East Yorkshire Motor Services - Fleet History 1926 - 1986.…….….….…….. Page 3 East Yorkshire Motor Services - Bus Fleet List 1926 - 1986.………………….. Page 11 Cover Illustration: No. 568 (MKH77), one of 16 Leyland PD2/12’s purchased in 1952 with Roe double-deck full-front coach bodywork. (LTHL collection). First Published 2015 by the Local Transport History Library. Second edition 2016. With thanks to East Yorkshire Motor Services, Paul Haywood, Stuart Little and John Kaye for illustrations. © The Local Transport History Library 2016. (www.lthlibrary.org.uk) For personal use only. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise for commercial gain without the express written permission of the publisher. In all cases this notice must remain intact. All rights reserved. PDF-066-2 2 East Yorkshire Motor Services - 60 Years of Service 1926-1986 East Yorkshire Motor Services Ltd. 1926 – 1986 First registered on the 5th October 1926 by the British Automobile Traction Company Ltd, East Yorkshire Motor Services began life as an amalgamation of two fleets - Lee & Beaulah Ltd (dating from 1919, when Ernest Lee began to operate a service between Elloughton and Hull, using a Ford T with 14-seat bus bodywork. In 1922 the name was changed to Lee & Beaulah as a condition of financial assistance offered to Lee. The livery used was dark blue and primrose) and Hull & District Motor Services Ltd (formed in September 1924). Two depots were inherited, one at Elloughton and one at Anlaby Common. The initial fleet comprised of vehicles acquired with the businesses of Lee & Beaulah and Hull & District Motor Services, but later in October the fleets and services of four more operators were taken over (Laidlaw of Hedon, Lawson of Walkington, Burn of Withernsea and Thompson of Sutton). Lee & Beaulah's livery of dark blue and primrose was adopted for the new company. By early 1927 East Yorkshire were operating routes to Beverley, Brough, Bridlington, Ferriby, Fridaythorpe, Hedon, Hornsea, North Cave, Preston, Sutton, Willerby, Withernsea and York; mainly centred on Hull but also from Driffield. 3 East Yorkshire Motor Services - 60 Years of Service 1926-1986 The British Automobile Traction Company (BAT), which itself was a subsidiary of the British Electric Traction Company had interests in nineteen bus companies, with another large group (Thomas Tilling Ltd.) being a co-owner of eleven of them, and at the same time was partly owned by Tilling itself. To simplify the arrangement, BAT was reconstructed with a new title, Tilling & British Automobile Traction Ltd (TBAT), and Tilling exchanged its shares in the various operating companies for an increased shareholding in the new company. In 1929 the London & North Eastern Railway divested themselves of much of the operations of their bus network by transferring their interests to TBAT in exchange for shares, becoming an equal shareholder in the East Yorkshire company. New vehicles arriving in 1930 were of Leyland manufacture and included Leyland TD1, Leyland TS2 and LT1 chassis, although vehicles of other makes continued to be added to the fleet with the acquisition of Blue Bus Services of Bridlington and Scarborough & District Motor Services. Leyland vehicles continued to be the favoured chassis make for new vehicles over the coming years. In 1933 discussions took place with Hull Corporation with the view to establishing some sort of co-ordination agreement for services within and around the city. Eventually agreement was reached establishing three distinct areas – the 'A' area, which would consist of the city centre (the Corporation receiving all revenue from this area); the 'B' area, which consisted of the city suburbs (receipts from which would be shared) and a 'C' area, which consisted of the area outside the city which would be 4 East Yorkshire Motor Services - 60 Years of Service 1926-1986 the exclusive territory of East Yorkshire Motor Services. The agreement was intended to take effect from the 1st April 1934, but complications led to it being postponed until 29th July, when the agreement finally commenced. In order to simplify the ticketing system, which required three different racks of Bell Punch tickets to be carried by each conductor the Company went about devising a simpler method of ticketing. It resulted in the Willebrew system – which required only 7 separate tickets covering all the areas around the city. East Yorkshire continued to use this system until it was finally replaced by Setright machines in 1971. By now the fleet numbered almost 180 buses and coaches and operated out of depots at Aldborough, Bridlington, Driffield, Elloughton, Goole, Hull, Scarborough and Withernsea, servicing a total of 43 routes. In 1934 the first vehicles (Leyland TD3's – Nos. 270-273) to have the distinctive 'Beverley Bar' shaped roofline were delivered and these were to be a feature of East Yorkshire buses until a new road was opened in 1970, avoiding the need to negotiate the medieval gothic arch at Beverley Bar. Over the next few years more Leyland chassis were added to the fleet, including TS7 and TD4 chassis in 1936 and in 1937 all new vehicles were single-deck on TS7 chassis sporting an oval window in the rear bulkhead, which remained a feature of East Yorkshire buses for many years. During this year agreement was reached with Hull Corporation for the Company to use platforms in the Corporation's bus station in 5 East Yorkshire Motor Services - 60 Years of Service 1926-1986 Ferensway, thus enabling all East Yorkshire's services to be centralised. The fleet was strengthened by the arrival of no less than 46 new vehicles in 1938 (25 Leyland TD5's with 'Beverley Bar' shaped roofs and 21 Leyland TS8 single-deckers). Three of the 1929 TD1's were also converted to open-top for use on Bridlington sea-front but in the event lasted just 1 year – being used for the 1939 summer season only. This was the year that war was declared and austerity measures were soon implemented, including blackout regulations and fuel economies, which resulted in many cuts to services. Large numbers of buses and coaches were laid up as a result and many were never re-licensed. Some buses were requisitioned by the Ministry of Supply and some vehicles (including 24 to Crosville Motor Services) were loaned out to other operators. In 1942, the shareholders of the Tilling & British Automobile Traction Company agreed to split the company into 2. These would be named B.E.T. Omnibus Services Ltd (to be owned by the British Electric Traction Company) and Tilling Motor Services Ltd (to be owned by Thomas Tilling). The Tilling & British Automobile Company would then be liquidated. This resulted in the shares in East Yorkshire passing to B.E.T. Omnibus Services Ltd. Towards the end of the year the Company was instructed to adapt a number of buses for producer gas propulsion (12 buses in total were converted), but all of these were re-converted to operate on conventional fuel during 1944 as restrictions were eased. 6 East Yorkshire Motor Services - 60 Years of Service 1926-1986 When the war ended in 1945, East Yorkshire prepared to restore and expand services and embarked on fleet replacement. By 1946 services had begun to return to normality and a number of delicensed vehicles were put back on the road. The first new buses began to arrive in 1947 - Leyland PD1's (Nos. 420-427 and Nos. 433-453) and Leyland PS1's (Nos. 428-432). In 1947 the London & North Eastern Railway was nationalised and their shares in East Yorkshire passed to the British Transport Commission, making East Yorkshire jointly owned by B.E.T. and the BTC. More new buses continued to be added to the fleet and in 1949 38 Leyland PD1A's (Nos. 471-493 and Nos. 505-519) made their appearance, with more PD1A's and PD2/3's arriving in 1950. At the same time East Yorkshire began experimenting with new livery schemes, but following public disapproval the original dark blue and primrose livery was retained. In 1953 the Company acquired the long established business of Everingham Brothers of Pocklington, who were operating no fewer than 31 vehicles from 3 small garages. Almost half the fleet was withdrawn by the end of the year and the garages were eventually replaced by a single depot at Railway Street, Pocklington. Further consolidation came in 1955 with the purchase of the White Bus Company of Bridlington. The last traditional double-deckers with 'Beverley Bar' roofs arrived in 1957 and in 7 East Yorkshire Motor Services - 60 Years of Service 1926-1986 the following year East Yorkshire, in common with most bus operators, were forced to cut the frequencies on some services due to declining passenger traffic. 1958 was, however, notable as being the 25th anniversary of the Hull co-ordination agreement. No new buses were purchased in 1959, although 1960 saw an intake of predominantly single-deck vehicles with 16 Leyland Tiger Cubs being placed in service (Nos. 680-692). The British Transport Commission's stake in East Yorkshire passed to the newly formed Transport Holding Company on the 1st January 1963. By 1967 the Company was again faced with dwindling receipts and falling passenger numbers and more service cuts were implemented. Almost 360,000 operational miles were lost as a result. This was the year that the first rear-engined double-deckers made their appearance in the shape of Gardner-engined Daimler Fleetlines (Nos. 825-828). Further Fleetlines arrived in 1968 along with an assortment of single- deckers based on Leyland Panther and Panther Cub chassis.

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